Bag of Randomness

With the wife and the kids out of town I was able to see The Dark Knight Rises . . . no spoilers, I promise:

I saw the IMAX version and an unexpected surprise was that the movie started right on time without any commercials or previews. Heck, I think I would pay extra for that anytime, and with a running time of two-hours-and-forty-five-minutes, my tiny bladder needed all the help it could get.

I decided to download the RunPee app just in case I did have to use the restroom. It’s free on both iTunes and GooglePlay. It has several cool features. You can look up the best times in which to get up and see a small description of time, scene, and dialogue or you can start the timer feature right when the movie starts and it will vibrate one-minute before a good time to get up and will vibrate twice and it’s time to get up.

That Christopher Nolan can tell one heck of a story.

But I’ve been very critical of his casting of the female leads in the last two movies, just HORRIBLE choices with Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and I was frustrated with his choice of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman . . . but, her performance won me over. I never really liked her in anything else, but now I think I’m a fan.

I also haven’t been a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. When I see him, all I see is his character from “3rd from the Sun”. I guess that’s one reason why I didn’t enjoy Inception, but his performance this time almost won me over but not quite. But I think he’s slowly growing on me.

Yes, there’s a few holes in the story and a few things you just have to throw reality to the side, but come on, it’s a movie based on a comic.

I’m not really giving anything away here, but I didn’t realize the connection with the pearls in this film and the first film in the trilogy.

I didn’t realize the film’s production company’s CEO is a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is why the city and players of the team had a role in the movie. Those Steeler fans, annoying as they are, were wearing their garb at the movie.

It was nice to see how this movie connected with the other two, especially the first. Heck, for those of you that haven’t seen this movie yet, I recommend rewatching the first movie in the trilogy.

Ten hours after watching the movie I was still on an adrenaline high.

I thought nothing was going to beat The Avengers for movie of the summer, but I was certainly wrong.

I’ve finally come to terms that I’m the most insecure man in the history of the universe.

I was at a church party at a very elegant home and got stuck in a conversation with two men discussing their wealth. I don’t think they thought they were speaking about their wealth, but that’s how I took at as the conversation was mainly about the private schools they send their child to (despite living in a great school district) and automobiles. They talked about how many BMWs they’ve own, what series they prefer, the quality of service at the dealership, and one mentioned how he just paid cash for some kind of Volvo sports car for his youngest. And here I was two weeks removed paying for a high mileage vehicle for my wife. Heck, when WifeGeeding drove to her parent’s house to spend the weekend, I was, and I can’t believe I’m actually telling you this, embarrassed, when her folks were naturally inquisitive about the year and mileage. I wish she could have answered differently saying she had a new brand new luxury vehicle, something that lets her folks know that her husband is in good hands.

One of those men was sending his child to one of Dallas’ premier private schools and the kiddo actually graduated this year as salutatorian and will be attending an exceptional private university. Recently in a Sunday school class during prayer request time, they asked that we pray for their family as they adjust to this new phase of life and how hard it will be with no children at home anymore. That’s understandable, but I also wonder if they ever offered any prayer of thanksgiving acknowledging the opportunity their child gets to attend an elite private university without having to take out any student loans.

I don’t know how my Favorite East Coast Pastor was able to be in the ministry and not be affected with the wealth of the people he dealt with in NYC. It’s another reason why I admire him so.

Yes, I’m jealous because I’m insecure. I’ve identified the problem, I just wish I knew the solution to dealing with it.

I think over the past two years I’ve been holding back on a lot of my personal thoughts on this blog. I do so because of another acknowledged weakness . . . my sensitivity. I’m too damn sensitive to what others think. It’s kind of crazy, I lay out my thoughts online and provide others an opportunity to comment, and then I fret over a response that I’m scared that will hurt my feelings. If I give people a forum to respond to my thoughts, then I shouldn’t be overly sensitive to the responses, yet I am. I’ve identified the problem, I just wish I knew the solution to dealing with it.

Yesterday at 12:20 PM I decided to push my out of shape body perhaps the most I ever had by riding my bike 37.16 miles. I’ve been really wanting to push my body physically for a while. With more breaks as expected, I finished at 5:19 PM. My home sits on top of a hill, and finishing that ride caused immediate quad cramps that were so server I had to lie on the hot cement. As a matter of fact, I never cramped so much in my life.

Some Southwest Airlines customers experienced an error when making a purchase that charged them more than expected. This also caused some customers to experience some overdraft fees, but being the exceptional company that SWA is, they are covering the costs. Sometimes I really miss being a part of that place.

I'm not trying to lock horns. Just giving my perspective. I thought DKR was terrible. It was something my 7 year old would write. "Look Daddy, my motorcycle can go side ways. Now my car is a helicopter thingie…" And the finale was…well not believable to say the least. The last minute was totally intriguing. But for me, Batman sans-Ledger was terribly long and silly.

NOW! That said, I hate superhero movies. I'm much more the drama, animal movie, romantic comedy guy. SO WHAT WAS I THINKING, GOING TO SEE IT?!? Oh well. They got my $12. 🙂

Please do not cycle that far without properly preparing your body. It is extremely dangerous to try to push yourself beyond your limits. In the heat, I would advise that you stay close to home and worry about TIME rather than distance in order to build up your system. I once did a 50k (on foot) through the tyler state park bike trails after not training for a month. I had done no more than 10k at any particular time even in a training run and it very nearly killed me. I woke up the next day covered in what appeared to be sand, it was actually salt from sweat and I had been asleep for 34 hours. I made it through, but it took weeks for my body to get back to full strength. You are seriously going to hurt yourself if you aren't reasonable about how you train. I am legitimately concerned for your well being.

Keith, insecurity is a LIAR. I spent a couple of decades of my life concerned that everybody was thinking bad things about me and that I wasn't doing the right thing. I've since decided to ignore that voice. I can be funnier if I don't care what people think. I can write books (working on my third) if I write to get it out of my head and don't care if no one likes it. I can love my wife more easily if I ignore the voice that tells me she's disgusted by my stomach. If you feel insecure, you should ignore that feeling as if it was some 9 year-old bully trying to intimidate your 30-something year old self.